Life

The Monday Round-Up: Records Go Down in Kona

Ryf and Lange crush records in Kona, Leiferman and Spieldenner victorious in Louisville. Plus, a glance at races coming up this weekend.

At a Glance

IRONMAN World Championship brought to you by Amazon

On a perfect day with light winds and some of the mildest temperatures in the 40-year history of the IRONMAN World Championship, defending champions Patrick Lange and Daniela Ryf shattered their own course records in what will go down as the fastest race in event history. Ryf's win was particularly historic, as she also broke the overall IRONMAN record with an 8:26:18 finish. As if that wasn't impressive enough, Ryf was stung by a jellyfish just before the swim start and questioned whether or not she would be able to make it through the swim.

IRONMAN Louisville

Sam Long (USA) exited the water with the leaders in the swim shortened course of .9 miles. Long rode at the front of the bike leg, carrying an eight minute advantage on his closest rival at the conclusion of the bike. Chris Leiferman (USA) hit the run course in fourth and was facing an 11-minute deficit to the Long but quickly clawed his way into second. It would take Leiferman 19 miles to power his way into to the lead and, and he took the victory on the strength of his blistering 2:38:54 marathon.

Jen Spieldenner (USA) and Sarah Haskins (USA) set the pace in the swim and the early miles of the bike. Haskins led in the opening miles of the bike, but Spieldenner took over in the latter stages. (Haskins eventually dropped out of the race as a result of crashing on her bike.) Spieldenner, who made her IRONMAN debut in Louisville, came off the bike with an eight-minute advantage on her closest rival. She put in a solid marathon, fending off late challenges mounted by Michaela Herlbauer (AUT) and Lisa Roberts (USA) to take the win on a rain soaked and cool day of racing.

The Buzz

Dreaming of Hawai`i

Growing up in his village in Sri Lanka, Rajan Thananayagam loved to watch ABC’s "Wide World of Sports." On February 21, 1982 Rajan tuned in to WWOS in time to watch Julie Moss’ Crawl of Fame. "I didn’t speak English, and I didn’t understand why you were crawling," Rajan told Julie at a recent Kona Stories book signing. "I was so angry at the people standing around you. Why weren’t they helping?" Inspired by Julie’s tenacity, Rajan is now an 18-time IRONMAN finisher, and the Event Director of the Sri Lanka IRONMAN 70.3 Colombo.

Last weekend Julie and her son Mats (also son to Mark Allen) competed in her final full IRONMAN. In 2019 Julie is looking forward to a relaxed schedule of 70.3 racing. After last week’s book signing, we predict her first stop will be Sri Lanka.

"The mom network is so important to me"

WITSUP.com founder. Editor of Australian Triathlete magazine. Punk rock drummer (as seen at the Kona Clif bar after-after party). Stef Hanson has now added "mom" to her list of accomplishments. "Bringing Frankie Florence from winter in Australia to the heat of Kona, I had really basic questions," Stef said. "I reached out to Rinny, Meredith [Kessler] and Lizzie [Blatchford] to ask things like what sunscreen and how to keep her cool. At one point I was panicking and Rinny came to my condo and calmed me down. I thought it was incredible that this three-time world champion would take the time to take care of me."

This year, Witsup’s hilarious and insightful Kona interviews took place in the quiet of Stef’s condo to facilitate Frankie’s food and sleep schedule (check them out on the Wistup Facebook page). "A lot of people thought we were crazy to bring her to Kona, but it’s such a big part of our life," Stef remarked. "Not that she’ll remember, but I still wanted her to meet the best athletes–and the best role models–on the planet. I want to surround her with greatness."

Clear skies over Kona

Notice anything different about the photos coming out of Kona? For the first time in a decade the skies above the Big Island are crystal clear. After a long run of volcanic activity–culminating in the well documented destruction in Puna–Tutu Pele is finally quiet, and asthmatic triathletes and allergy sufferers are breathing a deep sigh of relief. Missed the IRONMAN World Championships brought to you by Amazon? It’s an ideal time to book a Big Island training camp, or sign up for IRONMAN 70.3 Honu. The only downside? Without the thermal barrier provided by the VOG, temperatures are a few degrees higher along the coast.